My favorite piece, however, is Gaiman’s list of his favorite mythological creatures, which features several characters he’s borrowed for his comics and novels (he’d originally intended it “to be my top 10 books of myths,” he notes). Spoiler alert: Loki tops the list.

Gaiman writes, “[I]t was only while compiling that list that I realised most of my favourite males in myths are tricksters, while most of my favourite women are either stoic non-complainers or glorious villainesses, and I decided that there should be more lady tricksters in myths.”